October 26,1996
Dear Br. Turner:
I have a question for you, why does the
Lord allow bad things to happen to good people? Several weeks
ago, you drove my sister and myself over to Fontana dam to begin
our eight day trek along the Appalachian Trail. No sooner had
I put on my backpack and stood up then I either sprained or fractured
my ankle bone. On the way home, I wondered why the Lord allowed
me to suffer this injury while my sister continued her hike unimpeded.
The fall season is my favorite time of the
year. That is why I suggested to her that we take our little walk
at this time. I love the bright colors, the clear blue sky, and
beautiful, warm sunshine of fall. It is as if, God, knowing that
winter, symbolic of death, is about to invade the human experience,
clothes nature with bright colors as a promise of the coming Spring.
While He permits the icy blasts of winter to blight all nature,
He first gives us His blessing, in the beautiful foliage of fall
and the warm days and cool evenings, as His assurance that, even
in death, there is the promise of life. God’s character can
be discerned in nature, if one has the spiritual eye sight to
see Him and His handiwork.
“When I consider thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man
that thou vistest him? For thou hast made him a little lower then
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”
Psalms. 8:3-5.
All nature testifies to the existence of
God, yet the leaves die, the winter winds blow, and I hurt my
foot. Why? What do these things teach us about God and His love
for us?
Do we understand or appreciate His infinite,
daily blessings? Do we understand that His thoughts of us are
only good continually? He clothes the trees and all nature with
greenery and the flowers with beauty in the Spring, and then clothes
the trees, and even the weeds, with a scarlet, red, orange and
yellow coat of many colors in the fall. Even the barren earth,
in winter, is covered with a cloak of purest white. I am reminded
of the white robe of righteousness that Christ has prepared for
those who love Him and have washed their robes in the blood of
the Lamb.
“Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord: thou your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Can you imagine any other God who promises
to effect such a radical transformation in our characters. “From
the soul of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness
in us; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”
Isaiah. 1:6
I have often wondered what life would be
like, if, as the evolutionists confidently affirm, we developed
from the lower life forms and there was no God? If you were on
a committee to create a God for us to worship, would you or I
be able to conceive of a God like our God? I doubt it. Our minds
are too small and limited to conceive of a God such as our God.
There is no other god in this world, that even approaches unto
the grandeur of our God. He is mighty to be praised.
The beauty of the earth and sky is but a
faint representation of the attractiveness of His character. The
radiance, that emanates from His person, as recorded by John the
revelator, is an outward manifestation of his glorious character.
“And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” Exodus.
33;18. “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like
unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were
as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass; as if they
burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”
Revelation 1:11-15
How gracious of God to reveal Himself in this manner to Moses and John and to us also, through their testimony. O, what a marvelous God, truly He is worthy of praise.
So, why did He allow me to hurt my foot,
probably because I was foolish to attempt to carry a pack that
was too heavy. He never promised to protect us from our own foolishness
but He permitted me to suffer an injury in the safety of the parking
lot rather then deep in the wilderness where it would have been
impossible to walk out. When suffering comes to us, and it is
the lot of humanity, for this earth is a vale of tears, we must
look up and see Christ leaning over the walls of heaven, as He
did when Stephen was about to be stoned, watching with great compassion.
He understands suffering, for He suffered on our account, He died
for me and you on the cross and He went to hell, that we might
have a right to the tree of life. He went to hell in our place
and took our punishment, a punishment we deserve, that we might
enter Heaven and receive His reward, a reward that He deserves.
Paul said that it is a privilege to suffer
for the Lord. If Christ suffered for us, can we complain when
He calls upon us to endure a little pain and suffering here? If
we see Christ hanging upon the cross in our behalf, then this
light affliction is nothing compared with His sufferings. Let
us rejoice, rather then complain, over our hard lot. Christ’s
lot was infinitely harder, yet He complained not nor opened his
mouth, for “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he opened not his
mouth.” Isaiah. 53:7.
I say again, what a wonderful God we have! May the Lord bless you with peace and goodness, your brother in Christ.
Allen A. Benson
